"Princess Consort, Your Highness, you're back!" Shi Zhenghe said with a cheerful smile.
Hearing Shi Zhenghe's words, the employees in Jinxiu Pavilion put down their work and turned to look at Leng Ruoli and Jun Mohan.
Upon seeing that it was indeed Leng Ruoli, they immediately greeted her with smiles.
"Princess Consort, why didn't you let us know when you came to the shop?" everyone asked Leng Ruoli with beaming faces.
Leng Ruoli replied with a smile, "I just wanted to sneak a peek at you all, and I didn't want to disturb your work, so I didn't make a sound."
Finally, Leng Ruoli continued, "How has our shop's business been recently?"
"Princess Consort, you don't know, the batch of formal dresses you asked me to rush last time are selling like hotcakes," Shi Zhenghe replied with an exaggerated expression.
"Really?"
Leng Ruoli was a little disbelieving. She had initially worried that incorporating elements of modern formal dresses would be unacceptable to the people here.
She hadn't expected such a result from Shi Zhenghe's words, truly hadn't expected it!
"It's true, Princess Consort. What I'm holding now is the third batch of custom formal dresses ordered by Shopkeeper Zhou," Shi Zhenghe said with certainty, showing no signs of lying.
"Oh, this is truly unexpected! I didn't expect the formal dresses I designed to be so popular," Leng Ruoli said, very happy to hear Shi Zhenghe's words.
After speaking, she told everyone to finish their work and that she would look around the shop.
At this moment, Shi Zhenghe came to Leng Ruoli's side, scratched his head, called out "Princess Consort" twice, and hesitated to speak.
Leng Ruoli turned her head and saw Shi Zhenghe stammering. She felt as if he had something to say, so she curiously asked, "Zhenghe, what do you want to say?"
"Princess Consort, I, I want to ask you to help Mei Yue'e with something."
Shi Zhenghe said with an embarrassed expression. But as soon as he finished speaking, Ye Ba walked in.
"Princess Consort, your subordinate has investigated the scene just now. The person who knelt and kowtowed to Mei Yue'e was Mei Yue'e's father, Mei Jinnian. Mei Jinnian had previously assisted Lin Zhenfan in selling official positions. After Lin Zhenfan's downfall, Mei Jinnian's actions of selling official positions were also reported."
"Not only was Mei Jinnian dismissed from his post by the Emperor some time ago, but his property was also confiscated. He lost everything, and even had no money for food and lodging. His second wife, because she couldn't live a good life with him, kept clamoring to leave him. He was very anxious, so he had no choice but to find his eldest daughter, Mei Yue'e, for money."
"At first, Mei Yue'e refused to give him money, so he started to make a scene on the street, causing everyone in the surrounding streets to know. Mei Yue'e had no choice but to give him money. But after the first time, there was a second time. Mei Jinnian knew that this method could get him money from Mei Yue'e, so he came to Jinxiu Pavilion every few days to cause trouble..."
Ye Ba told Leng Ruoli everything he had found out.
"Hmph! This Mei Jinnian is truly shameless. He forced his first wife to death, and then he relied on selling his daughter to achieve promotion and wealth. Now that he's at his wits' end, he comes back to find Mei Yue'e for money? What kind of situation is this?"
Leng Ruoli was speechless at Mei Jinnian.
At this moment, Shi Zhenghe, who was standing nearby, couldn't help but interject, "Princess Consort, what's even more abominable about Mei Jinnian is that he asks Yue'e for money every two days, and the amount increases each time. If Yue'e doesn't give him money, he will kneel, kowtow, and make a scene. Yue'e has already given her father a lot of money during this period."
"Wow!"
"Mei Jinnian is too detestable!" Leng Ruoli murmured with a slight frown.
"Princess Consort, people like Mei Jinnian are not only detestable but also wicked," Shi Zhenghe agreed.
However, as soon as Shi Zhenghe finished speaking, Mei Yue'e walked in with a worried expression. Mei Jinnian also tried to barge in but was blocked at the entrance of Jinxiu Pavilion by Ye Jiu.
Leng Ruoli saw Mei Yue'e walk into the shop in a daze and asked her with concern, "Mei Yue'e, what's wrong?"
"Princess Consort, can you lend me five hundred taels of silver?" Mei Yue'e asked with a long sigh.
Leng Ruoli didn't immediately agree to her request upon hearing Mei Yue'e's words. Instead, she continued to ask her, "Mei Yue'e, what do you need five hundred taels of silver for?"
"Princess Consort, I want to use these five hundred taels of silver to completely buy out my father-daughter relationship with Mei Jinnian."
Mei Yue'e raised her hand to support her forehead and replied seriously to Leng Ruoli.
"Yes, I can lend you five hundred taels of silver, but can you guarantee that you can truly sever your father-daughter relationship with Mei Jinnian with this five hundred taels?"
"I..."
Mei Yue'e was instantly speechless.
"Let me handle this for you. We'll get rid of this trouble, Mei Jinnian, once and for all," Leng Ruoli said calmly, seeing that Mei Yue'e couldn't give a clear answer.
"Thank you, Princess Consort. I will never forget your great kindness and favor towards this humble girl."
"Mm, Ye Jiu, let Mei Jinnian in."
After speaking, Leng Ruoli raised her hand and beckoned towards the shop entrance. Ye Jiu saw that Leng Ruoli had agreed to let Mei Jinnian in, and only then did he allow him to enter.
After Mei Jinnian entered, he immediately put on a pitiable act and came before the Prince and Princess Consort. Without a word, he knelt down and cried out, "Your Highness, Princess Consort, I have been wronged. I did not..."
"Shut up! If you don't want to die, then shut up! Stay away from me."
Jun Mohan, who didn't want to bother with Mei Jinnian's troublesome affairs, was extremely annoyed by Mei Jinnian's words.
Therefore, Jun Mohan immediately rebuked him.
Mei Jinnian looked up and stole a glance at Jun Mohan's expression, and was immediately startled.
Jun Mohan's face was expressionless, and a cold aura emanated from him. His gaze was cold, sharp, and murderous, as dangerous as a leopard.
Perhaps it was because Mei Jinnian sensed the dangerous aura from Jun Mohan that he quieted down.
At this moment, Leng Ruoli looked at him sharply, "Mei Jinnian, if Mei Yue'e can pay you five hundred taels of silver at once, are you truly sure that you will completely sever your father-daughter relationship with her? And will you never bother Mei Yue'e's life again?"
"I, I, I can be sure," Mei Jinnian replied stammeringly upon hearing this.
In fact, Mei Jinnian didn't really want to sever his father-daughter relationship with Mei Yue'e. He just wanted to use this condition to extort Mei Yue'e. In the future, when he was out of money, he would still come to his eldest daughter for money.
After his mansion was confiscated, he had nowhere to go with his second wife and son. He could only extort some silver from his eldest daughter and rent a house in the capital to live.
However, the more than ten taels of silver his eldest daughter gave him were far from enough for him and his wife and son's expenses. Because they had lived in the Mei Mansion and spent money lavishly, they were accustomed to such luxurious lives, and it was difficult for them to suddenly adapt to a life of hardship.
Now that his eldest daughter was doing very well with the Princess Consort, wasn't she much more capable than before? He heard that the clothing store opened by the Princess Consort was doing extremely well, and that the Princess Consort treated her employees very well?
It was precisely because of this that he ran to his once unfavored eldest daughter every few days to ask for money.